Wednesday, August 29, 2007

My name is Joaquin Rafael Roces. I have lived in Nevada since 1979. I grew up in Reno, and I was part of the third graduating class of McQueen High School in 1985. I have worked and lived in Fernley and Fallon. Among other things, I was a rodeo cowboy, a bull rider, Nevada is home to me. I want to preface what I am about to say with the comment, that I did not serve in a war like Al Gore, nor was I awarded the Purple Heart as was John Kerry.I was never a prisoner of war, and I am certainly no son of a President.I want to make it clear to everyone here, I am no hero. What I am is a Marine, I served as a rifleman with Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines, 2nd Mar Div, FMFlant.In 1987, during training and security operations in the Republic of the Philippines, during an armed coup against the then President Acquino, I was wounded in the line of duty and medically retired. I am a registered Republican, a naturalized US Citizen, and a disabled veteran.I served in two commissions under Governor Guinn and voted for Gov. Gibbons, and supported both through most of their political careers. I am no hero.I am a single working father, a first generation immigrant, trying to provide a better life for my sons, who, God willing, I will have the fortune of seeing grow into honorable manhood.

So forgive me, if I should seem a little uncomfortable with these proceedings as I am not a very good public speaker, and this is certainly way out of my comfort zone. However, I learned in the Marine Corps that comfort is an illusion born of familiar things and familiar ways; a tissue thin lie; a false sense of security that in of itself breeds mediocrity and complacency. It narrows the mind; weakens the body; and robs the soul of its spirit and determination.Comfort, the Marine Corps has taught me, is an illusion.Robert Kennedy once said it is not just bravery under fire or the bravery to make sacrifices, but the bravery to discard the comfort of illusion, to do away with false hopes and alluring promises.Reality is grim and painful, but it is only a remote echo of the anguish that a policy and agenda founded on illusion is sure to take us.The Bush doctrine, developed under the National Security Strategy (issued in 2002), advocates for the pre-emptive use of military power for self-defense and national security, if it is intended to assert a right available to the United States alone, is a policy founded on illusion.If it is intended to assert a new legal principle of general application, its implications, according to Richard Gardner, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, are so ominous as to justify universal condemnation.For such a doctrine would legitimize preemptive attack by Arab Countries against Israel, by China against Taiwan, by India against Pakistan, and by North Korea against South Korea, just to cite some obvious examples from Mr. Gardner.It would even serve to legitimize ex post facto use of such power as Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor.Already, its application has rippled out from its epicenter at the Oval Office: Israel’s strike against Hizzbolah in Lebanon and Ethiopia’s Pre-emptive strike on Somali rebel forces- both occurred in 2006.Ethiopia's prime minister, Meles Zenawi, said Ethiopia entered hostilities because it faced a potential threat to its own borders. “Ethiopian defense forces were forced to enter into war to protect the sovereignty of the nation,” he said. “We are not trying to set up a government for Somalia, nor do we have an intention to meddle in Somalia's internal affairs. We have only been forced by the circumstances.”

Henry Kissinger, who is certainly not known for his dedication to International law, put the matter succinctly in a column for the Washington Post:

“As the most powerful nations in the world, the United States has a special unilateral capacity to implement its own convictions.But it also has a special obligation to justify its actions by principles that transcend the assertions of a preponderant power. It can not be in either the American national interest or the world’s interest to develop principles that grant every nation an unfettered right to pre-emption against its own definition of threats to its security.”

Those principles are embodied within the framework of our Constitution. (Korematsu v. United States- 1994), Justice Robert Jackson warned that a military order, however unconstitutional, is not apt to last longer than the military emergency.Justice Jackson adds, but once a judicial opinion rationalizes such an order to show that it conforms to the constitution, or rather rationalizes the Constitution to show that the Constitution sanctions such an order, the court for all time has validated that principle.Thus that principle then lies about like a loaded weapon ready for the hand of any authority that can bring forward a plausible claim of an urgent need.Voltaire put it simply, “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”From the illusion of weapons of mass destruction and imminent harm from Saddam Hussien and Iraq, we have the dismantling of our civil rights under the Patriot Act, the national shame at Abu Ghirad and Guantanomo, the death of 3700 Americans, approximately 40 from this state alone, and an endless conflict that has already outstretched both World War I and II as well as the Korean War from 1951-1953.

Beyond the human cost, the financial and economic repercussions of “staying the course” at $9 billion per month, on top of an initial outlay of up to $13 billion for the deployment of troops to the Persian Gulf region will not be felt for years to come.According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), they estimated the cost of "prosecuting" a war against Iraq at up to $9 billion per month, on top of an initial outlay of up to $13 billion for the deployment of troops to the Persian Gulf region.

Summary of Iraq War Cost EstimatesCBO estimated the following costs for an Iraq war:

Initial deployment of troops: $9 billion to $13 billion

Conducting the war: $6 billion to $9 billion per month

Returning forces to US: $5 billion to $7 billion

Temporary occupation of Iraq: $1 billion to $4 billion per month

In comparison, from 1941 until 1945, during the Second World War, President Roosevelt paid for war effort by selling Bonds to the US public. The US had 7 bond drives to raise funds to support the war effort.By the 7th Bond drive, shortly after the battle for Iwo Jima, the US government was literally broke. The 7th Bond Tour raised $24 Billion (1945 Dollars) for the US Treasury, more than any other bond tour. To put this into perspective, the total US Budget in 1946 was $56 Billion. This would be the largest borrowing from the American public in history. Today the President can just spend our money on war without consulting us, the taxpayers.As of today according to the National Priorities Project the cost of the war in Iraq is $455,937, 345,134 and Nevada’s share of that is $4,084,357,618.

The debate about Iraq in Washington also centers around an illusion of a false choice: Do we continue with President Bush's failing course and hand the problem off to the next President? Or do we just turn our backs and hope for the best?Like Somalia? Like Rawanda? Like Darfur?

In 1975, the US signed a Peace treaty in Paris and made a commitment to its South Vietnamese allies that the US would intervene if the North invaded South Vietnam.When President Nixon was impeached, the North saw their opportunity and invaded South Vietnam, America ignored its treaty obligations and thousands were slaughtered and buried in mass graves, while thousands more fled the country in make-shift boats.

There is a third way. Leslie Gelb, President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, has proposed a five-point plan to keep Iraq together, protect America's interests and bring our troops home. I recognize that while leaving Iraq is necessary, it is not a plan in of itself. The vague campaign promise “That if elected president, I will end the war in Iraq” is nothing more than a bright and shining lie. President Eisenhower sent 14,000 Marines and Soldiers to Lebanon in 1958, President Reagan sent 1800 Marines in 1982-1984, and in 2006, our band-aid –on-a-sucking-chest-wound approach to the Middle East ruptured again. We need a plan for what we leave behind, so that America's interests and security are protected, and future generations need not put their lives at risk for what we left undone.

In 1975, civil war and sectarian violence erupted in Lebanon and after 7 years of bloodshed, US Marines along with French Legionnaires and Italian and British soldiers entered the conflict as part of a peacekeeping effort.Phillip Habib, Special Envoy to the Middle East was shuttled along the warring parties on Marine Corps and Navy transports – this would give birth to the term “Shuttle Diplomacy.”The Marines and their counterparts were used to buffer the warring parties until a diplomatic solution could be reached.The tragic events of October 2003, led to the deaths of 241 Marines and soldiers, and by the spring of 1984, America was withdrawing its forces from the conflict.War and sectarian violence would continue. Israel would not withdraw its troops until 2000 and Syria’s military would not follow until 2005. Lebanon still bears deep scars from the civil war. In all, it is estimated that more than 120,000 people were killed, and another 100,000 handicapped by injuries. Approximately 900,000 people, representing one-fifth of the pre-war population, were displaced from their homes. Perhaps a quarter of a million emigrated permanently. Lebanese victims of kidnapping and wartime "disappearances" number in the tens of thousands - over 17,000 civilians, are still missing.Unresolved ethnic tensions that were left behind and ignored in 1983, resurfaced last summer with a new Israeli offensive and renewed ethnic fighting that continues today.

Sectarian violence among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds is now the major impediment to stability and progress in Iraq. Like Lebanon, no number of troops can solve that problem. The only way to hold Iraq together and create the conditions for our armed forces to responsibly withdraw is to give Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds a way to share power peacefully. That requires a sustainable political settlement, which is the primary objective of the plan.

The plan would maintain a unified Iraq by decentralizing it and giving Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis local control over their daily lives - as provided for in the Iraqi constitution. The central government would be responsible for common interests, like border security and the distribution of oil revenues. We would secure support from the Sunnis - who have no oil -- by guaranteeing them a proportionate share (about 20 percent) of oil revenues and reintegrating them into society. We would increase economic aid, ask the oil-rich Arab Gulf states to fund it and tie all assistance to the protection of minority rights and the creation of a jobs program. We would initiate a major diplomatic offensive to enlist the support of Iraq's neighbors and create an Oversight Group of the U.N. and the major powers to enforce their commitments. And we would ask our military to draw up plans to responsibly withdraw most U.S. forces from Iraq by the summer of 2008 - enough time for the political settlement to take hold - while leaving a small force behind to take on terrorists and train Iraqis. Keep in mind the US began withdrawing its 1800 troops in the spring of 1984 and it took almost a year to fully withdraw disengage all personnel.During the Gulf War in 1991, U.S. troop strength in the Middle East were reduced by 45 percent to 300,000, down from the peak of 540,000 between the war's end on Feb. 28 and Apr. 14. About 5,000 troops were leaving every day after that.At that rate, evacuating the remaining 300,000 would have taken another 60 days.But sectarian fighting in the north and south complicated the withdrawal and disengagement as residual forces remained to oversee no-fly and no-drive zones. We have over 105,000 troops with supporting infrastructure in Iraq today.We continue to have a military presence in Bosnia a decade after the end of hostilities.

There is no purely military solution to the sectarian civil war. The only way to break the vicious cycle of violence – and to create the conditions for our armed forces to responsibly withdraw -- is to give Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds incentives to pursue their interests peacefully. That requires an equitable and viable power sharing arrangement. That’s where this plan comes in. This plan is not partition – in fact, it may be the only way to prevent violent partition and preserve a unified Iraq. This plan is consistent with Iraq's constitution, which provides for Iraq's 18 provinces to join together in regions, with their own security forces, and control over most day-to-day issues. This plan is the only idea on the table for dealing with the militia, which are likely to retreat to their respective regions. This plan is consistent with a strong central government, with clearly defined responsibilities. Indeed, it provides an agenda for that government, whose mere existence will not end sectarian violence.

The example of Bosnia is illustrative. Ten years ago, Bosnia was being torn apart by ethnic cleansing. The United States stepped in decisively with the Dayton Accords to keep the country whole by, paradoxically, dividing it into ethnic federations. We even allowed Muslims, Croats and Serbs to retain separate security forces. With the help of U.S. troops and others, Bosnians have lived a decade in peace. Now, they are strengthening their central government, and disbanding their separate security forces.

President Bush does not have a strategy for victory in Iraq. His strategy is to prevent defeat and to hand the problem off to his successor. As a result, more and more Americans understandably want a rapid withdrawal, even at the risk of trading a dictator for chaos and a civil war that could become a regional war. Both are bad alternatives.

At the start of my speech, I used a quote from Robert Kennedy who said it is not just bravery under fire or the bravery to make sacrifices, but the bravery to discard the comfort of illusion, to do away with false hopes and alluring promises. I believe this is a great nation and a great people. Any who seek to comfort rather than speak plainly, reassure rather than instruct, promise satisfaction rather than reveal frustration; they deny that greatness and drain that strength. In closing, I think it an appropriate reminder that our freedom is not assured by the brilliance of our weapons, the greatness of our army, or the rhetoric of our noble leaders; it assured by the Constitution and the core principles embodied within.As a Marine Rifleman that is what I was sworn to defend above all else, against all enemies foreign and domestic.It is not about the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. The test of this new presidency is not about who is to blame for the past; but who will accept responsibility for our future.

Today, democrats, republicans and independents have come together to urge Dean Heller to change his position on the Iraq War. I was disheartened to learn that the White House and not General Petraeus, will give the the "Progress" report on Iraq next month. After more than four years of war, I no longer trust this administration and its false illusions and bright and shining lies. But most disheartening is Dean Heller's refusal to attend this town hall meeting and explain to us face to face why he continues to block an end to the war.

Joaquin with Public Defender, Rich McCauley at the Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation (2000)

Robert Kennedy once said it is not just bravery under fire or the bravery to make sacrifices, but the bravery to discard the comfort of illusion, to do away with false hopes and alluring promises. I believe this is a great nation and a great people. Any who seek to comfort rather than speak plainly, reassure rather than instruct, promise satisfaction rather than reveal frustration; they deny that greatness and drain that strength.

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From Algeria to Reno, culture to culture

By Geralda Miller • gmiller@rgj.com • August 16, 2009

FALLEN

Right where it belongs....

Right Where It Belongs by Nine Inch Nails

See the animal in his cage that you built-Are you sure what side you're on?Better not look him too closely in the eyeAre you sure what side of the glass you are on?See the safety of the life you have built;Everything where it belongs.Feel the hollowness inside of your heartAnd it's all...Right where it belongs...

What if everything around youIsn't quite as it seems?What if all the world you think you knowIs an elaborate dream?And if you look at your reflectionIs it all you want it to be?What if you could look right through the cracks?Would you find yourself...Find yourself afraid to see?

What if all the world's inside of your headAre just creations of your own?Your devils and your gods;All the living and the dead;And you're really all alone?You can live in this illusionor you can choose to believe.You keep looking but you can't find the woodsWhile you're hiding in the trees.

What if everything around youIsn't quite as it seems?What if all the world you used to knowIs an elaborate dream?And if you look at your reflectionIs it all you want it to be?What if you could look right through the cracksWould you find yourself...Find yourself afraid to see?

(Nine Inch Nails)

2009 Global Gala

Joaquin Roces with Mrs. Dawn Gibbons, Nevada's First Lady

Community Connections Delegation from Russia

Russian visitors at Pyramid Lake, NV (July 2008)

Shari'a Judges from Jordan, IVLP 2006

Joaquin coordinated a program for Jordanian judges. Pictured above the judges explore Tahoe's western shore on Nov. 11 2006

Joaquin escorted a delegation from Turkmenistan to San Francisco in 2006

Turkmen delegates were here to meet with US Road Safety officials. Joaquin arranged a cultural trip to San Francisco. Here delegates pose with a California surfer.

2008 Open World Delegation from Kazakhstan

Iranian Journalist and visiting Brookings Scholar speaks at University of Nevada Reno

Joaquin guides Najmeh Bozorgmehr around Virginia City (Sept 2006). Najmeh works for Financial Times in Tehran.

2007 Open World Program on Environmental Tourism

Joaquin facilitated a program involving tourism officials from Tajikistan. Here Joaquin is with the program facilitator, Marina Kadyrova, and tourism official, Bakhtiyor Hamdamov.

Tajik delegation visits Pyramid Lake

As part of their cultural experience in Reno, the visitors travelled to the Pyramid Indian Reservation.

Joaquin facilitated a program in which 9 Middle East Journalist covered the Nevada Caucus (Jan. 08)

Joaquin and his sons pose with Moroccan journalist, Amina Koundi, at the home of Washoe Co. Republican Party President Heidi Smith

Democratic Vice Chair, Alison Gaulden, speaks to Mid East press at the Nevada Caucus at Reno High

Alison explains the democratic side of the process. The journalists covered both Republican and Democratic caucuses. Local and international papers covered the event.

Turkish MPs meet with State Assemblywoman Heidi Gansert in 2006

The Turkish parliamentarians visit Nevada's capital and sit in on a legislative session.

Fehmi Oztunc, a Turkish parliamentarian and Khurd, enjoys a meal with Reno teen

Mr. Oztunc at a reception dinner with Joaquin's son, James.

NNIC hosts Sen. Joe Biden at the University of Nevada Reno's campus.

The senator and presidential candidate spoke at the University regarding the future of American foriegn policy. Here Sen. Biden poses with officers of UNR's Model UN Club.

Civic Engagement Project

Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada

Civic Engagement Volunteers

Kat Baltierra, Sydney Brown and Amanda Gabbert , TMCC High School seniors, Canvassed over 100 homes on May 3rd 2008 and two special events. To date our volunteers have collected 120 voter registrations and pledges to vote in the Novemeber Elctions. GREAT JOB Everyone!

County Commissioner attends community event

Pledges to vote in November 2008

Kat Baltierra, TMCC High School, Civic Engagement Volunteer

Kat, who is a senior in Ms. Gardner's class at TMCC High School, stated that people were very excited to see young people actively participating in our democratic process and added that people generally had a positive attitude towards the volunteers.

For election 08, youth voter turnout swells

"It's my future," said the young Las Vegas resident. "What I really don't understand is why there aren't more young people here because ... we are the ones who are going to have to live with the problems of the future." - csmonitor.com

To Contact Erik Holland: Erikreno@aol.com

Erik Holland, Voters for Responsible Growth

Erik Holland, with Voters for Responsible Growth, and former candidate for Mayor

Holland pointed out that the Spring Mountain development conflicts with the idea of concentrating growth close to existing development. There also was concern about the cost of providing police, fire and other services to Spring Mountain.

Washoe County Commissioner Bob Larkin

On 3/11/08 conceded that the Spanish Springs area is already "over-allocated" in terms of water needs and usage (qoute provided by PLAN). According to Reno Gazette Journal, Larkin was quoted that imported water would be needed there (Spanish Springs) eventually.

Water won't be shut off to customers of Panther Valley Water Users Association; RGJ Article 3/20/08

Panther Valley is an area in north Reno that is south of the North Virginia Street and U.S. 395 connection. Land uses in the area include both residential and industrial. It is estimated to use 50 million gallons of water. Back payments and allegations of theft almost cut off water services to this area earlier this year.

US Marine Lt. Col. Couch speaks out against torture

Lt. Col. Couch's prepared remarks to the ABA

See Lt. Col. V. Stuart Couch's prepared remarks1 to the American Bar Association's Criminal Justice Section, which on Friday presented him its Minister of Justice Award, given annually to a prosecutor for demonstrating exemplary legal ethics.

British Generals Criticize Rumsfeld

General could be demoted over Tillman death

FORMER SECRETARIES OF STATE ON THE BIDEN-GELB PLAN

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright: "[T]he idea of the... constitution of Iraq [as] written, which allows for and mandates, in fact, a great deal of regional autonomy, is appropriate. I think there are certain central powers that a government needs. Some of it has to do with the oil revenue and various other parts. So without endorsing any plan, I do think reality here sets in that there will be regional autonomy."

[W]hen asked about Senator Biden's plan, I have said that, in fact, it is an attempt to keep the country together, which I do believe is what it is about. I'm just talking about in the long run what might happen that we do have to watch out for. But I think it is very clear from my reading of the plan that it is done in order to keep the country together. And I do think that is an essential point. [Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing, January 31, 2007]

Former Secretary of State James Baker: "...I was and still am interested in the proposal that Senator Biden and Les Gelb put forward with respect to the idea that ultimately you may end up with three autonomous regions in Iraq, because I was worried that there are indications that that might be happening, in fact, on the ground anyway and, if it is, we ought to be prepared to try and manage the situation. So we have a sentence in our report that says, 'If events were to move irreversibly in this direction, the United States should manage the situation to ameliorate the humanitarian consequences, contain the violence and minimize regional stability." [Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing, January 30, 2007]

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger: "I'm sympathetic to an outcome that permits large regional autonomy. In fact, I think it is very likely that this will emerge out of the conflict that we are now witnessing."

"If the Iraqis cannot solve the problems that have been described, I've told the Chairman privately, that I thought that this [a federal system in Iraq] was a possible outcome, and at the right moment we should work in the direction that will (inaudible) for maximum stability and for maximum chances of peace." [Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing, January 31, 2007]

It is not about the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer.

About Me

Joaquin is the grandson of former Congressman Joaquin "Titong" Roces of the Philippines. Grandpa was also a journalist for the Manila Times and served as a Consular General for the Philippine Consulate in Taiwan. Joaquin is also a senior at the University of Nevada Reno majoring in International Affairs with a focus on the Middle East. Joaquin studied French and Russian as well as Arabic. Joaquin also served as a US Marines from 1985-1988 when he was medically discharged for wounds received in the line of duty. He has traveled to the far east, north Africa and Europe. He is a writer and registered artist with the Sierra Arts Foundation, as well as a distinguished member of the International Society of Poets. He has written for the Reno Gazette Journal on Special Assignment. Joaquin has served his home state of Nevada in the public sector under the Governor's office and the Nevada Indian Commission. He has legal professional for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Northern Nevada's Indian Tribes from 1997-2007. He is a member of The Our Lady of Snows Parish and is active within his faith community. In 2008, he received the Thornton Peace Prize from the University of Nevada Reno.

Arizona

The show me your papers state

Arizona: The NEW "Show Me" state

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